T/N: Another short but tragic novel! Our protagonist, Mo Yun, is an outstanding shadow guard of the imperial family. This story is about her struggle with fate, as she fights a curse that threatens to snatch everything from her.
One
Ever since she was young, Mo Yun was tenacious.
When other girls fell, they would cry and wail in pain. She was the only one who would press her lips tightly together, plastering on an obstinate expression instead. She would never attempt to gain pity or affection from others.
Even when her Master told her about the 8 sufferings in life: birth, aging, sickness and death, parting with the ones you love, meeting with the one you hate, unattained aims, and all the ills of the five skandhas.[1] Everything was supposedly predestined, nothing could be forced. Even so, Mo Yun would lift her head up stubbornly and sneer: Parting with the ones you love and unattained aims? It merely applies to those who have no guts.
Even if it can’t be forced, I will force it!
Not long after she said this, Mo Yun met Shen Yue.
Shen Yue was just like the biggest joke the heavens played on her, as a reminder to Mo Yun that in this world, there were things that she could not obtain by force.
Mo Yun was a shadow guard meticulously groomed by the imperial family. She found it hard to conceive how she became what she was today. Her Master once told Mo Yun that her original family name wasn’t’ Mo. She even had a sister back at home. When her mother gave birth to the pair of sisters, it coincided with the visit of a wandering priest. He asserted that the sisters’ horoscopes were conflicting, and in the event they grew up together, one of them would end up causing the death of the other.
At the start, her mother was in utter disbelief. But reality soon played out before her. Ever since their childhood days, Mo Yun had always been healthy, while her younger sister was exceedingly weak and frail. A winter spell at the end of the year almost took her younger daughter's life due to sickness.
In the end, Mo Yun’s mother was frightened. She experimented by sending her away, but who would have guessed that her sister would recover from her ailment the same afternoon Mo Yun departed?
However, Mo Yun met with bandits on the road away from home. The guards escorting her were all slaughtered. If it wasn’t for the imperial convoy that had passed by the area coincidentally, and if the leader of the group hadn't noticed Mo Yun’s aptitude, she would probably have been reduced to a pile of bones.
Just like this, Mo Yun was admitted into the shadow guards. Her Master was that same leader who noticed her.
She was young, her muscles and bones were all strong. As such, she developed quickly and exceeded everyone else. At 15 years of age, Mo Yun was given a secret imperial edict to become one of the shadow guards of the Crown Prince Shen Yue. Following which, Mo Yun would enter a battlefield of life or death. Logically, only one would remain alive till the end, and that person would officially become the hidden shadow guard of the Crown Prince. That year, 16 of the most outstanding shadow guards participated, and only 8 would be allowed to remain. Mo Yun was the youngest amongst them all, and no one viewed her favourably.
However, she was one of the eight survivors.
In the life or death battlefield the following year, she was one of the four survivors.
In the fourth year, she was one of the two.
The final life or death battle never happened, because only two people remained – Mo Yun and Hu Si. Hu Si publicly defected and supported the enemy, Chu Country. He turned around and made a direct attack on Chen Country’s imperial palace. Before this, Chen Country was already showing signs of despair in its battle with Chu Country. This time, it was vanquished overnight.
And Mo Yun received a mission. She had to stop Hu Si by all means, and protect the Crown Prince Shen Yue from being killed by Chu Country.
Shen Yue. Mo Yun recited these two words. That youth seemed to appear before her eyes once more, that delicate and brilliant youth.
[1] A Buddhist concept
| NEXT: Chapter 2
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